Lost
by Pebblepaw
Summary: 4 littermates, barely 2 moons old are left in the up-walker place by their mother, not knowing why. How will they survive by themselves? And where did mama go?
1. Allegiances

**Allegiances**

Thunderclan  
Leader: Redstar

Deputy: Ravenwing

Medicine Cat:Feathercloud

Warriors:  
Snowfur,  
Pure white she-cat with green eyes  
Mudclaw,  
Dark brown Tom-cat  
Foxpelt,  
A dark red Tom-cat  
Rippleclaw,  
Black and silver She-cat  
Flamepelt,  
Red tom-cat  
Blossomheart,  
Pretty cream-furred she-cat  
Branchpelt,  
Brown tom-cat  
Whiteclaw,  
White tom-cat  
Pebblefur,  
A medium sized grey tom-cat with a grey pelt  
Poppypelt,  
Long haired dark red she-cat  
Ashfur,  
Short haired black tom-cat  
Sparrowfeather  
Big, dark brown Tom-cat  
Owleyes,  
Brown tom-cat with yellow eyes  
Rosebud,  
A very pretty she-cat with green eyes  
Thornpelt  
A brown Tom-cat

Apprentices:  
Dustpaw, a grey Tom-cat  
Mentor:Foxpelt

Featherpaw, a brown She cat  
Mentor:Owleyes

Lionpaw, a large golden Tom-cat  
Mentor:Sparrowfeather

Queens:  
Snowfall, a white she cat with grey eyes  
Kits-largekit, a large brown tom-cat with yellow eyes  
Cloudkit, a small she cat, pure white, green eyes.

Smallfoot-a small she cat with white paws contrasting to the light grey on the rest of her pelt  
Drykit, a brown tom-cat  
Skykit, a fluffy black and brown she cat.

Elders:  
Goldenclaw,  
A golden colored she cat with grey patches of fur

WindClan  
Leader: Owlstar

Deputy: Clawfur

Medicine Cat: Petalfall  
Apprentice:Goldenpaw

Warriors:  
Skyclaw,  
A cream-furred she-cat  
Rockpelt,  
A grey Tom-cat  
Ferretfur,  
A cream and grey Tom-cat  
Ivytail,  
A black and white she-cat  
Emberfur,  
A reddish she-cat with silver paws  
Boulderclaw,  
A large dark grey tom-cat  
Icepelt,  
A white she-cat with blue eyes  
Stonetooth,  
A grey tom-cat with long teeth  
Hawktalon,  
A mottled dark brown tom-cat  
Owlclaw,  
A light brown she cat with green eyes  
Redfur,  
A dark red Tom-cat  
Sunfang,  
A light colored Tom-cat  
Whisperfur,  
A small light grey she cat

Apprentices:

Willowpaw, a silver she cat

Mentor-Icepelt

Sandpaw, a ginger she cat  
Mentor:sunfang

Hawkpaw, a brown tom-cat  
Mentor:Owlclaw

Queens:  
Birdsong,a small and nimble she cat  
Kits- swiftkit, a nimble looking she kit  
Greenkit, a brown tom-cat with green eyes

Elders:  
Heatherfur,  
A old grayish-pink she cat

Shadowclan  
Leader: Stonestar

Deputy: swiftbreeze

Medicine cat: Sweetleaf

Warriors:

Tornpelt,  
a dark brown Tom-cat  
Mousefur,  
A small grey Tom-cat  
Frostfang,  
A silver she cat  
Rosefur,  
A dark red she cat  
Shadowfur,  
A black tom-cat  
Batwing,  
A black Tom-cat  
Dawnfur,  
A silver she cat  
Vineleaf,  
A tom-cat with a long tail and green eyes  
Silverfur,  
A silver she cat with blue eyes  
Berrytail,  
A black tom-cat with white flecks  
Darkcloud,  
A black and grey tom-cat

Apprentices:  
Leafpaw,A grey she cat with green eyes  
Mentor-Silverfur

Elders:  
Poppyfur,  
A dark red she cat with grey fur

Riverclan  
Leader: Lightstar

Deputy: Sharpfang

Medicine cat: Robinfeather

Warriors:

Leafclaw,  
A small she cat with amber eyes

Swiftbreeze,  
A small pale brown and black tom-cat  
Gorsetail,  
gray she-cat with black paws and tail  
Spotclaw,  
white she cat with large black spot on back  
Gnarledfoot,  
Big dark-brown tom with twisted forepaw  
Sootcloud,  
dark gray slender she cat  
Sheenpelt,  
dark-brown tabby she-cat with shiny pelt  
Marshfoot,  
dark-russet tomcat with black paws  
Needlefur,  
small long-haired dark tabby tom  
Twirltail,  
she-cat with pale brown tabby pelt and white underbelly, grey eyes

Apprentices:Galepaw, dark grey tom with blue eyes  
Mentor-Sootcloud  
Fawnpaw, light brown she cat with green eyes  
Mentor-Swiftbreeze  
Lizardpaw, a dark colored tom with green eyes  
Mentor-twirltail

Queens:  
Halftail- black she-cat with a medium length tail  
Kits-Bark-kit, a dark brown tom  
Whitekit, a small white and grey tom  
Snowcloud, a white she cat  
Kits-Greykit, a grey tom  
Black-kit, a black tom with white paws

Elders:  
Beechfur, dark-russet brown tom  
Grayfrost, pale gray tabby she-cat


	2. In need of a home

Chapter 1  
Acorn's stomach growled a her, she was _starving_.

Her littermates were probably starving too, living in up-walker place was hard, they couldn't find any food! None! There were big, huge cats with scars, and twolegs, and their monsters everywhere!

"Do you guys want to try going back to where mama left us? Maybe she's back by now," Acorn said, her mother had left them all in the Up-walker's place a while back, mama had said she would be right back, apparently she wasn't, it had been 3 sunrises since then and she wasn't anywhere to be found.

Rosey shot her a glare, "You know as well as I do that she left us, she isn't coming back Acorn,"

"Don't say that Rosey," Tiger said, "Mama would never lie, she got lost, or our up-walkers won't let her come because they don't understand. She is definitely coming back! Which is why I said we shouldn't have left to find food in the first place, what if she is back there right now and doesn't know where we are?"

"Yea, let's go back, I don't want to miss her if she is there now!" Max said.

Acorn smiled at her littermate's hopefulness, they would get through this. And what did Rosey even mean mama wasn't coming back? Of course she was! Even a doubt of that was ridiculous!

The four siblings slowly walked back to the area where their mother had left them, a little weak with hunger and tiredness, after all they hadn't eaten in 3 days. And sleep had been hard to come by, the large cats chased after them a lot at night, they never slept.

"Do you think she'll be there this time for real? She wasn't yesterday," Max asked, his voice quiet.

"Hey, you guys said, she was lost, it makes sense this place is big, she going to have to be here eventually," Rosey said

Rosey had been on and off about whether mama was coming since the end of day one, she said mama was coming sometimes, but other times she thought the opposite.

"She'll be here," Tiger said, sounding sure.

The rest of the trip they were silent.

When they finally reached the place, by the larger red and white up-walkers sign whith strange markings on it, by the dark alley with the large metal poking out of the garbage can, they found nothing, no mama at all.

The littermates were silent for a few seconds. Not knowing what to say.

"What do we do now?" Asked Rosey softly,

"Should we try and sleep here again? Mama could come at night," Tiger said stubbornly refusing to give up hope that mama was coming.

"That's what we did since we got left here, monsters keep coming on the black path and we got chased by the big cats a lot too, we can't make the same mistake again can we?" Max asked,

"But mama might come," Tiger said sadly, and unsure.

Suddenly, rain started drizzling, just a few drops at a time, but it was clear it would soon become a harder rain. One that the littermates did not want to be under.

"Shoot," Rosey said

"We can't stay here, let's try to find some shelter, none of us want to be sick. Let's try the alley maybe we can find some shelter in there, plus it's close to here so in the morning we can check right away for mama,"

"Fine.."Tiger muttered.

The cats left toward the alley. They found shelter under a large garbage bin turned sideways.

"What if other cats come and make us leave?" Asked Max as they laid down to sleep.

"We hope that doesn't happen, and if it does then we look for another shelter," said Acorn simply.

"I miss mama," Tiger said, everyone else did too obviously.

"Me too, I miss how every night she used to groom us before we went to bed," Max said

"I miss how we got to eat everyday," said Acorn dreamily, thinking of her stomach.

"I miss how after she groomed us one of us would ask how old we were and she used to know the exact number always," Rosey said.

"How old are we again?" Asked Acorn  
"Last time mama told us she said we were 57 sunrises old," Tiger said

"How long have we been here?" Asked Max

"3 days," Acorn said

"So we are 60 sunrises old?" Max asked

"I guess," Acorn said

"I wish mama was here to tell us that," Rosey said

"Me too,"

The littermates fell silent, and the only noise was the sound of rain as it fell, soon they were asleep.


	3. An attempt at hunting

Chapter 2  
The next morning when the kits woke up was disappointing to say the least, after they woke up they had checked for their mother by the strange up-walker sign, she wasn't there.

Acorn saw Tiger looked down, anyone could clearly tell he was having trouble with his loyalty toward his mother, _where is she? _Was the question on everyone's mind.

_She got us here so easily before, we didn't get lost then. How could she have forgotten it now_? Acorn asked herself, _it's our up-walkers they are keeping her inside the house, that's why mother isn't here, that has to be why._

Acorn looked up at her siblings, like Tiger they were looking down at the ground, _what are we going to do?_ She thought, seeing how thin and skinny her siblings looked, not to mention sad and depressed.

"She is coming, and this just proves why, our up-walkers are keeping her inside. She's coming as soon as we can, don't worry," Acorn wasn't sure who she was trying to reassure, her siblings or herself?

"Yea! She's right, just wait soon we'll all be back home!" Tiger said.

Max and Rosey smiled and nodded. Suddenly Acorn's stomache growled it had been doing this since the first night.

"Speaking of your stomach where do we get food now? We are all starving," Rosey asked.

"Let's go look around, there has to be something," responded Acorn

The littermates left, they walked and walked, wondering how they would get food. Soon though, they saw two cats in an alley, they were talking, "this is disgusting! I can't eat it!"

"Me too, let's leave it, it's crow-food anyway," the other said the two cats left.

"Hurry! Hurry! Let's go eat the food before anyone else does!" Said Max, the littermates sprinted up to the "food"

It looked to be some kind of bird, flies were all over it, and cockroaches too, but the littermates where to hungry to care, they dug into it like it was the only food they had ever eaten.

"That was disgusting, but at least I'm not gonna die of hunger," noted Tiger, turning a little green from the rotting food they had just eaten

"You know how those two cats were talking? What's crow-food?" Asked Rosey

"Maybe it means old?" Said Acorn.

"I wish we weren't so hungry we had to eat something like that in the first place," said Max.

"Maybe we can try to hunt?" Put in Acorn

"How? We don't know how, and haven't even seen anyone do it," asked Rosey

"We can try," stated Acorn

"So what are we hunting for?" Asked Tiger

"A rat, maybe a bird, I don't really know what _can_ we eat?" Asked Acorn, as kitty pets they had never had to hunt, or find food, what was edible out here in the up-walker place?

"Well, if those other two cats were even looking at this thing than a bird must be edible," Tiger said smartly

"Didn't we see a cat eating a rat the first day we were here?" Asked Max

"Oh yea, and I couldn't believe they would even eat that back then!" Rosey said

Acorn thought back to how they weren't hungry back then, how little they worried the first day they were here, _I wish it was still like that,_ she thought

"Should we be quiet? What if they are scared by noise?" Asked Acorn

They nodded, for a whole 5 minuites they jut say in the alley, waiting. Until they saw a small rat!

"It's mine!" All of them screamed it at the same time, the small rat looked up at their scream and started to run even before they could move. The littermates scrambled after it but the rat ran into a hole before they could claw it.

"Aww,we missed it!" Said Acorn sadly

Tiger responded quickly "That was awesome! We almost had it, next time we just have to decide who should go after it,"

"Who's turn is it next then?" Asked Rosey

"It's not like we don't have time, we just ate..so I don't care," Acorn said

"Can I try first then?" Asked Rosey

"Sure," said Acorn

So again the littermates waited for the rat to come back, it took longer this time but it did, as soon as it came out Rosey jumped after time, but over shot her landing, jumping right over the small rodent! Immediately the rat ran the opposite direction, right out of the alley into the steet, "After it!" Called Rosey

They ran out of the alley only to find the rat had disappeared completely!

"We missed it again!" Exclaimed Rosey angrily

"It's okay! We can go find another alley to hunt in, come on lets go," Acorn said, and so the littermates followed her out of the alley.

Waking into another alley Acorn spoke, "now we can try agin this time I'll go, if I catch it we can all eat it, maybe it takes really yummy-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ALLEY" Boomed a voice from behind them, the littermates whirled around to see the biggest cat ever with scars all over his face, and half of his right ear gone, "NO ONE IS ALLOWED IN MY ALLEY! GET OUT!"

In short the littermates ran out as fast as they could, but the large cat didn't leave it there, no, he began to chase them

_He is way faster than us he's gonna catch up! What do we do!?_

With no plan in mind they all just kept running.


	4. The Cozy Place

Chapter 3  
The littermates were running as hard as their little paws could take them, But that didn't matter the gigantic cat was gaining on them quickly,

Suddenly Acorn heard Max scream, "Come on this way!"

Trusting her brother she and her littermates followed him, into another alley, it led to a dead end!

But Max knew what he was doing,he jumped onto a ledge on the wall of the dead and kept running, his littermates followed. He ran into an old open, rusted window of an old up-walker's building and ran into a hole in the wall. The rest followed suit, and together they all hid in the hole.

They hid for a long time, just listening for any sound other than their breathing, when absolutely sure the scary cat was gone,they spoke, "how did you know about this place?" Acorn asked still out of breath.

"I didn't I only saw the ledge and decided to try it," Max responded, also out of breath.

"Do you wanna check if the cat is gone?" Asked Tiger,

"Well, he probably couldn't have fit through the window anyway, I think it's okay it go check," Acorn said, "plus if he was here he would've heard us talking and come after us,"

"So we can?" Rosey asked quietly looking very scared.

"Yes," Acorn responded

So they left the safety of the small hole and peeked into the abondond up-walker room, it almost looked like their old home with their mother. Just smaller and older, and not as nice..

"Wow, this reminds me of..." Acorn's voice trailed off.

"Our home with mother?" Asked Tiger.

"Yes, just not as nice," Rosey noted

"Hey, don't question good luck, I like this place!" Max said happily

"What if this place belongs to someone else?" Asked Tiger, thinking of the alley with the large cat.

"Remember what Acorn said about the window being small? No one could fit in here but kits like us, so if anyone does live here they probably got to big to fit in here at all," Max said smartly.

"Nice logic, but what if the kit is still our age and can still fit into here?" asked Acorn.

"Umm..." Max was at a loss of what to say.

"So this where we live until mama comes?" Asked Tiger, wanting to make a decision.

"Should we vote?" Asked Acorn

"Sure, I vote yes," Max said

"Yes," Rosey said

"What about finding mama? Isn't this too far away from where she told us to stay?" Asked Tiger worriedly

I hadn't even been thinking of mother! Acorn thought guiltily.

"Actually," Rosey said, "I think Tiger is right, we can't stay here it's too far,"

"But we don't know that for sure, when we came here we were running for our lives!" Acorn pointed out, "We can go check however far away we are, then we can vote again and decide,"

"Okay, but can we have a _quick_ nap first? That bed looks _way_ better than that garbage can we slept in yesterday," Max said, staring at the bed.

"No, we don't have time we have to check if mama's back yet again. And while we are on the subject can we stop leaving the spot? What she comes and we aren't there?" Said Tiger firmly.

_What if she isn't coming?_ Acorn immediately shook the thought of her mind, mama was coming back!

"I agree with Tiger, plus this way we can check the spot and see how far away this place is from where mama is going to come," Rosey said

"Fine, let's go," Acorn said

Max nodded his agreement, and the littermates left. The walk was shorter than you'd imagine, they hadn't gone too far away. When they reached the place where mama was supposed to be it was no surprise that mama wasn't anywhere in sight.

_She is going to be here eventually, she is going to be here eventually, she is going to be here eventually..._ Acorn repeated the thought over and over again, hoping by that believing her mother was coming that her mother would come.

She looked at her siblings, Tiger was closing his eyes tight with his head toward the ground. Rosey was just stating at the up-walker sign, thinking hard. Max just looked down sadly. Acorn just thought of her mother, and why she left them here in the first place.

_We lived far away from here.. _Acorn remembered to herself, _And one day she took us out side, she said where we were going was a surprise and we had to close our eyes, and when we finally got here she said to stay here..she said she would be right back...it's been 4 days now..where is mama?_

In the far corner of the sky it was clear that the sun would set soon, "should we go back to..." Acorn stopped, what was the new place they had found to them? It wasn't home, up home was where mama was, what was the new place?

"What should we call the new place anyway?" Asked Max

"I donno..."

"The Cozy Place?..." Max guessed, "it is cozy..."

"I guess we could call it that," said Acorn, "anyway should we go back?"

Tiger and Rosey were still deep in thought, every time we come here it's just sadness, _I wish mama would just show up!_ Acorn thought

"Yea...sure," Rosey said sadly.

Tiger just nodded.

They walked back, slowly, and with sinking hearts. Not to mention lack of hope, and a very small doubt that mama wasn't coming, _but that's ridiculous...right?_

They went to sleep in silence, even on their new comfy up-walker bed to sleep on, no one had the heart to speak. Instead the curled up next to each other and fell asleep.

If was late in the night when Acorn felt something _change_, she looked up out of her sleeping position only to find she was back in the place where mama left them! It was still night time, _how did I get out here? And where are Tiger, Max and Rosey? _She thought to herself

Then Acorn saw something she thought she would have never seen, it was her mother! "Mama!" She screamed in all her joy of seeing her mother who she had missed so dearly, "you're here! I missed you! Come on, let's go get Tiger, Rosey, and Max, they're in The Comfy Place, we found it, it's really cozy, we can go home now!"

"Oh, Acorn I'm so sorry for leaving you! I wanted to show you this big up-walker place, but I wanted to get some yummy up-walker food for you, but I got lost. But I guess now it's too late to do that now, let's go come on," her mother started walking.

"Wait mama, we have to go get Max, Tiger, and Rosey, they missed you too," Acorn reminded her mother.

"Oh, I don't want to take them home, they didn't love us enough," her mother said casually, as if it was common knowledge.

_How silly! Tiger missed mama the most, and Max and Rosey love mama just as much as me!_ "No! Of course not mama! They love you as much as I do!"

"I know they love _me_, but they don't love _you_, and if they don't love you I don't love them. Now let's go," her mother said.

"Mama, of course they love me, and I love them too, that's why we stuck together!" Acorn said,_ I don't want to leave my littermates behind! They need mama as much as I do!_

Acorn's mother looked down sadly, as if she was expecting Acorn to say that, "Acorn, they don't love you, and if you don't listen to me that means you don't love me, so maybe I should just go home without you at all,"

Acorn looked at her mother with shock, "mama, what do you mean! They love me, I love them, we love you, and you love us!"

"Everything that you said was wrong, you don't love any of us, in fact I am going home, don't follow me," Acorn's mother said. And suddenly she disappeared!

"Mama! Mama! Where did you go? Come back!" Acorn hollered

Suddenly Acorn woke up,_ I had been...dreaming? Why did mama do those things in my dreams? And why did she go?!_ Acorn looked at her siblings, they were sleeping peacefully, _I miss the real mama, not the ones from my dream, that cat wasn't mama, mama would never say anything like that, plus I know my littermates love me._

Acorn decided that going back to sleep was her best option, it wouldn't be a good idea to be tired tomorrow, who knows what if that giant cat was still after them? Acorn curled up next to her littermates, feeling their love, and went to sleep.


	5. Many mistakes

Chapter 4  
The next morning, due to the nightmare Acorn was woken up groggily. "Come on Acorn wake up! It's really early and if we leave now we can try to hunt without any big, evil cats chasing us!" Max said, shaking her repeatedly.

Acorn looked up, Max was standing over her, also looking tired. _Why does he look so tired? Did he even sleep_? "I'm up, I'm up, quit the shaking!"

"Good," Max said, "help me wake Rosey and Tiger,"

Acorn stood up, and looked at her two other littermates, Strangely enough they were tossing in their sleep, _are they having an nightmares like I did_? She voiced her thought, "Are they having a nightmare?"

"Maybe, I'll wake Tiger, you wake Rosey," he said, so Acorn got to work.

"Rosey," Acorn said, shaking her littermate, like Max had done to her, "come on wake up!"

Rosey's eyes snapped open quickly, and jumped up.

"Come on, Max thinks if we wake up early we can try to hunt without any big cats coming after us, so hurry!" Acorn said to Rosey, Rosey muttered quietly in response.

Rosey was now awake, but she couldn't look more startled, and tired at the same time, _she did have a nightmare, I can tell. _Acorn thought

"He's a deep sleep! This is difficult!" Max responded.

Acorn glanced at Tiger, he, like Rosey had been, was tossing and turning, and was muttering words. "Let's just wake him up," Acorn said, "we don't him to be stuck in a nightmare,"

"If you say so..." Max said, "come on! Let's go Tiger! Wake up!" Acorn helped by shaking Tiger with her paw. Soon enough Tiger woke up, and like Rosey he jumped into the air, startled.

_Did everyone have a nightmare?_

"I'm up, I'm up, we can go to wherever you want..." Tiger said, tiredly.

"Let's go then!" Max said excitedly, _me and Max seem to be the only two who are even awake_.. Acorn thought.

"Fine..." Rosey said, like Tiger she couldn't have sounded more tired.

"Maybe walking around will wake you guys up, so we should just go," Acorn seconded Max.

So the littermates left "The Cozy Place", and went looking for another alley to hunt for a rat or bird, or whatever else they found really... And of course finding an alley wasn't hard, it was an up-walkers place..

"So whose turn is it now?" Asked Acorn When they got there.

"Well, Rosey went last time, so can I go now?" Max asked,

"Why not?" Tiger said, more awake then before, the walk as Acorn had predicted, had woken him and Rosey up.

Rosey spoke, "But how exactly do we hunt again? Last time I kinda just jumped at it...can we maybe find a strategy or something, so we can actually catch a rat or something?"

"Well, yesterday we kinda guessed that they were scared of noise, and that took a long time, so should we try to talk so the rats think we are distracted?" Asked Acorn stupidly.

"That makes sense, because if they think we are trying to catch them they will be suspicious if we are quiet so they won't come out! So we should talk!" Said Tiger, agreeing with Acorn.

"What about the actual jump?" Asked Max, "How should we jump so we don't fly right over it?"

"I don't really know... But we could practice!" Suggested Tiger.

"How? Will we have to get a lot of rats? Won't that take too much time?" Asked Rosey

"We can find something about rat sized and try to jump at it," suggested Tiger.

"What though?" Asked Rosey.

"Let's look," he said simply, so they did. They spent about 20 minutes looking through up-walker garbage before they found something, it was metal, and it was grey and red, it had a little strange bubbly black liquid coming out of it.

"What is it?" Asked Rosey when they had found it.

"I don't know, but didn't our old up-walkers drink from it?" Asked Acorn.

I remember mama telling us that it was bad for us, and we weren't supposed to drink it. Acorn thought.

Max responded, "yea, they used to buy in in packs or something!"

After they had found it they had taken turns pouncing on it, soon enough they had become much better at pouncing. But their way of pouncing wasn't perfect, they often stumbled on their feet or tail because of the incorrect stance they had. _It's way better than way we had before even if it isn't perfect._ Acorn thought.

"Wow we've gotten better!" Said Max happily.

"Yea, now we can go hunt, come on lets go!" Said Tiger.

By now it had been at least an hour since they had first woken up, and cats were starting to come out. "Wait," said Acorn, "Maybe we shouldn't hunt now, cats are out, what if we get chased?"

"Then we hope we don't, and run back to The Cozy Place if anything happens," said Max, almost quoting Acorn from the 3rd night they had come when they had been sleeping in the garbage can.

Well... I guess that would work... Acorn thought.

"Yea Acorn, don't worry about it! And if anything happens we just do what Max said, it worked before, and that was when we didn't even know about The Cozy Place back then!" Said Tiger reassuringly.

"Anyway, let's stop wasting time, let's hunt!" Said Max excitedly.

So they did, and, of course, within minutes realized that talking loudly did not work. So they went back to being quiet, it still took a while, but it worked all the same. Soon they had gotten much better at hunting, but had yet to catch anything yet. And because of their natural sibling rivalry each littermate wanted to be the first to catch their meal,

"I wanna go!" Whined Acorn to her littermates.

"Nuh-uh! It's my turn now!" Said Rosey.

"You went last though!" Said Acorn, that shut Rosey right up.

"But you went right before Rosey!" Pointed out Tiger, "so it's my turn!" Like Rosey before her, Acorn shut up.

"No, you went before Acorn, it's actually my turn!" Said Max, now it was Tigers turn to shut his muzzle.

"Fine..." Muttered Tiger, even though _technically_ he was supposed to shut up.

So everyone waited for the rat to show up, and after what felt like forever, it appeared. Max sprang for it, he had landed perfectly! But the rat wasn't giving up, it wiggled, and wiggled, and tried to get a bite at Max. Luckily, Max managed to release the rat before the rat managed to bite him...losing their meal. The rat sprinted away as fast as it's legs could take it, and surprisingly, that was pretty fast, into the nearest hole.

"Dang it! I almost had it!" Max yelled, angrily.

"On the bright side you managed to be the first one to land perfectly... You just forgot to kill it..." Said Tiger.

"How do we kill it though?" Asked Rosey.

"Umm...we can cross that bridge when we come to it..." Said Tiger.

"We are crossing it!" Said Acorn, annoyed, "how do you kill a rat?"

"Neck?" guessed Rosey.

"That would make sense," agreed Tiger.

Max shot an annoyed glare at Tiger, "yea, so did Acorn's idea of talking to try and catch the rat!"

Acorn looked down, embarassed.

Tiger also looked embarrassed, "Well it made sense ok? I thought it would work,"

Max still looked annoyed, but he didn't mention it, "well, in any case I agree, we should kill the rat by its neck,"

Tiger looked at Maz, confused, "If you agreed then why did you pretty much tell me that I agree to stupid ideas?"

"Cuz...you do..." Max said.

"Whatever," Tiger muttered.

In any case, the littermates tried to kill the rat by its neck, the failed attempt went something like this:

In had been Acorn's turn to try now, and because of all of their practice she, like Maz, had landed perfectly. But... She didn't know how to kill the rat by its neck! In all the adrenaline, she had pretty much forgotten she could use her claws!

"Uhh...whoops..." Acorn was apologizing for her mistake.

Max just sighed, "we actually had it that time, you were prepared, you knew what to do, but you didn't use your claws, or even your teeth to kill the mouse!"

"Sorry..."

"Anyway," said Rosey, "it's my turn now, so step back and watch the master,"

_I bet my pelt that she won't catch anything! _Acorn thought to herself, she had wanted to be the first one to catch their food, and now she had to wait for everyone else to fish their turns and hope they didn't catch anything!

Rosey, as a Acorn had predicted, had failed to catch anything. In fact Max didn't catch anything either, it was Tiger who caught a rat! So Tiger got bragging rights, and they all got a meal. The rat was scrawny, but they still didn't notice, they hadn't eaten anything except from the morning before when they had eaten the crow-food.

"Wow, that was way better than those pellets we used to eat when we lived with mama," said Tiger, still bragging over his catch while they were eating.

Even a thought if mama brand the littermates grief over their mother.

Suddenly, Acorn remembered something,_ oh yea!_ _The nightmares from this morning, I still haven't asked about them yet!_ She glanced at her siblings eating, and wondered if now was a good time to ask, _I guess it's as good a time as ever..._

"Guys, did you have any night-" Acorn was interrupted.

Suddenly, a group of 5 or 6 cats came out of nowhere, they where all pretty big, and they were staring at the rat the littermates had caught. _The leader must be the one in the middle._ thought Acorn

"Well, looky was we have here," said the one who Acorn had guessed was leader mocked, "some poor wittle kits eating!"

The rest of the group, as if on cue, laughed, "So, kits, give us the rat, so you _wittle kits,_ don't get hurt," the leader said, still mocking the small size of the kits.

Acorn looked at him with round eyes, naïvely not understanding a few things he had said, "I don't get it, we caught the rat, why would we give it to you? And why would we get hurt?"

The leader looked at her like she was an idiot,

_Seriously, I don't get it, what's going on?_ She asked herself, _and why does he have that look in his eye that Rosey always used to have in our home with mama when she had an evil plan to steal something from mama or our up-walkers?_

"Since you obviously don't understand," he said,

_I just said that, duh!_ Acorn thought,

"I'll have to put this simply, we want the rat, give it to us," he talked in a slow condescending manner, which Acorn disliked very much.

"You can't have our rat," Tiger spoke up firmly, "we caught it, it's ours,"

"Maybe you caught it, but we are about to steal it, so give it to us!" Demanded the leader.

"Who says we are gonna let you steal it?" Asked Max.

"My claws and teeth say so, so get out of the way pipsqueaks!" Growled the cat, and with that he hit an unsuspecting Max with an paw with his claws out stretched. In a matter of seconds Max fell onto the ground with agony.

"Max!" Screamed Acorn, rushing up to her brothers side, along with Rosey and Tiger.

"I hope you kits have learned your lesson about not listening to your elders!" Laughed the leader, as he picked up the rat Tiger had caught and left with his group.

Acorn could only stare at Max wondering how she could ever heal him, his face wound looked bad, _will Max be okay?_ She asked herself.


	6. Fear

Fear  
"I hope you _kits_ have learned your lesson about not listening to your elders!" Laughed the leader, as he picked up the rat Tiger had caught and left with his group.

Acorn could only stare at Max wondering how he could ever be okay, his face wound looked bad, _will Max be okay?_ She asked herself.

He had 4 deep claw marks beginning from right below his left ear going to the end of his face. Fortunately his eyes had missed being clawed, but his nose had not. His face was bleeding. Badly.

Max was still and sprawled on the ground . He appeared to be asleep.

And that's when Acorn's mind seemed to go dull, she couldn't think, she couldn't speak, and she couldn't move. She tried to make a plan, and tried to think, but she couldn't. Every time she tried she would hear one thought over everything else _Max might die._

She tried to move towards Max to see him more closely, but she collapsed onto the ground in grief, _how could this be happening?_

That's when Tiger walked up to Max, "...H-how do we get the b-blood off?" Tiger stuttered, Acorn was surprised Tiger could even speak. Inspired by her littermate, Acorn got up, slowly of course, and walked up to Max.

But Acorn didn't try to speak herself, she was too sure she would start bawling, so instead she began to lick the blood away from Max's face. Tiger joined, and soon Rosey also joined helping clean Max's face.

After the blood was gone, Acorn wasn't sure what to do, the dullness hadn't left yet from her mind, and she was still scared to death; and suddenly she was pulled into an old memory, of her, her littermates, and their mother...

_She was back at her old home, with their mother. Tiger had just gotten a scratch on his paw, it was small, smaller than ant, but somehow the littermates had freaked out and went straight to their mother._

_When she had seen the small, baby scratch she had laughed, "oh, that's nothing, just give it a lick,"_

_The littermates had stared at her, wondering how she could not be freaking out about the scratch, to the small kits it was huge! But in reality it was small, not even a problem, and they tried again to show the importance to their mother._

_This time, she realized how important the scratch must seem to them, and she had feigned seriousness and licked the "wound" very carefully. After she was done "treating her patient" she told them Tiger would be okay, and she went back to her nap._

Acorn snapped out of her memory and wondered how things had changed from _that_ to _this_ so quickly. How had it gone to a small scratch on Tiger, to 5 claw marks all over Max's face? She wondered what could have possessed their mother to leave them there, was it just like her dream had told her? Had mama gotten lost looking for food? But if that part was right was the rest, did her littermates not love her at all?

She didn't need that to be answered, her littermates were the closest in the world! That was obvious.

_Forget the dream! I want mama._ Acorn couldn't help but be desperate, her and her littermates got abandoned- no! Not abandoned! Just... just what? Left here? Forgotten? What word could describe the situation? They weren't forgotten, nor where they left here, they were... being _put_ here, until mama came back. _Yea, that's the word._

Acorn glanced at her littermates, Tiger, and Rosey were watching Max in case he began to bleed again, and Acorn wondered how they would get back to The Cozy Place, _I don't want a Cozy Place, I want a home!_

Acorn wished, and wished she could be home with mama, she wished so bad. She shut her eyes and screwed them shut. She wanted to be home, she wanted it so bad she could _feel_ her want deep down in her breaking heart, she could _feel_ the feeling of the floor in her home with mama in her paws. She could _feel_ the softness of mama fur as she said that it was time to go to bed. She could _feel_ her up-walkers petting her as she fell asleep next to mama.

She could feel it all, and she almost thought at that moment with her eyes closed so tight they were hurting that she was home, and she was doing all those things with her littermates, but as she opened her eyes, she didn't see that stuff, all she saw was a passed out Max with a large bloodstain around his face, and Rosey, and Tiger looking at him trying to be as close to each other and Acorn as possible.

She also saw Max's eyes begin to flutter open, and try to speak, "what happened," his voice was quiet, and almost a whisper.

"D-don't you r-remember? You got c-clawed by a r-really b-big cat, we had to l-lick the b-blood off your face," Tiger was still shocked by the event, and scared that more cats would come.

"Oh yea..." Said Max, his voice was still weak. But he stood up shakily anyway. It was obvious that he was in pain by his face.

"D-does only your face hurt or does something else hurt too?" Asked Acorn trying her best not to stutter too much.

Max responded, "Only my face... But it hurts really bad,"

Acorn nodded.

"Sh-should we try to go back to The Cozy Place," asked Rosey, her head was in the direction to the front of the alley, looking for more cats.

"Can you jump and stuff?" Asked Tiger, who was the first of Acorn, Rosey, and himself not to stutter with fear when he spoke.

Max nodded, and so the littermates started walking. At first they were scared to even leave alley, but realizing the fast they got to The Cozy place the faster they were safe.

As they walked they flinched every time they even saw a cat come near, but they knew that they shouldn't push it with Max's injury, it could start bleeding again. They couldn't afford to stop moving, the sun was quickly setting. When they finally got to the alley where the Cozy Place, they had Tiger go first, and then Max to hopefully help him in case anything happened. And they had Acorn and Rosey wait at the bottom to catch Max in case too.

Fortunately Max did make it to the ledge without any help. Rosey and Acorn jumped up afterwards, and they walked into the Cozy Place feeling way safer than before. They fell asleep next to each other.


End file.
